Potential of multisensor data and strategies for data acquisition and analysis

Registration and simultaneous analysis of multisensor images is useful because the multiple data sets can be compressed through image processing techniques to facilitate interpretation. This also allows integration of other spatial data sets. Techniques being developed to analyze multisensor images involve comparison of image data with a library of attributes based on physical properties measured by each sensor. This results in the ability to characterize geologic units based on their similarity to the library attributes, as well as discriminate among them. Several studies can provide information on ways to optimize multisensor remote sensing. Continued analyses of the Death Valley and San Rafael Swell data sets can provide insight into tradeoffs in spectral and spatial resolutions of the various sensors used to obtain the coregistered data sets. These include imagery from LANDSAT, SEASAT, HCMM, SIR-A, 11-channel VIS-NIR, thermal inertia images, and aircraft L- and X-band radar

Statin therapy for the octogenarian?

Cardiovascular risk increases progressively with age. Statins in octogenarians may therefore potentially bring about large reductions in absolute risk. Epidemiological studies, however, show that statin prescription declines with age and is lowest in the oldest patients with the highest cardiovascular risk. Reasons for low statin utilisation in the elderly include safety concerns, doubts about the utility of statin therapy in those of advanced age and a paucity of definite trial evidence supporting statin prescription in octogenarians. Some of the more recently completed statin outcome trials have randomised patients as old as 82 years. A meta-analysis of secondary prevention, with patients aged 65-82 years at randomisation, supported statin prescription in this age group, as statin therapy was associated with relative risk reduction similar to that observed in younger patients. A Swedish registry study showed improved survival in octogenarians prescribed a statin following hospitalisation with an acute myocardial infarction. Currently there is no definite evidence that statin therapy prevents or ameliorates cognitive impairment or dementia. Statin therapy should be considered in octogenarians at high cardiovascular risk, taking into account factors such as biological vs. chronological age, life expectancy, quality of life, risk of interaction with medications taken for co-morbidities and the ability of the patient to take the statin safely.Keywords: statin, octogenarian, lipoprotein metabolism, safet

Variations in roughness predictions (flume experiments)

Data of flume experiments with bed forms are used to analyze and compare different roughness predictors. In this study, the hydraulic roughness consists of grain roughness and form roughness. We predict the grain roughness by means of the size of the sediment. The form roughness is predicted by three approaches: Van Rijn (1984), Vanoni & Hwang (1967) and Engelund (1966). The total roughness values (friction factors) are compared with the roughness values according to the DarcyWeisbach equation. Results show that the different methods predict different friction factors. In future research uncertainties in the hydraulic roughness will be taken into account to determine their influence on the computed water levels

A functional central limit theorem for a Markov-modulated infinite-server queue

The production of molecules in a chemical reaction network is modelled as a Poisson process with a Markov-modulated arrival rate and an exponential decay rate. We analyze the distributional properties of $M$, the number of molecules, under specific time-scaling; the background process is sped up by $N^{\alpha}$, the arrival rates are scaled by $N$, for $N$ large. A functional central limit theorem is derived for $M$, which after centering and scaling, converges to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. A dichotomy depending on $\alpha$ is observed. For $\alpha\leq1$ the parameters of the limiting process contain the deviation matrix associated with the background process.Comment: 4 figure

Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School Disctrict: Religious Coercion in Public Schools Unconstitutional Despite Voluntary Nature of Partially Patriotic Activity

This Note examines Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District and explains why California Education Code Section 52720 and the School District’s policy of reciting the Pledge violate the Establishment Clause. Part I discusses the background facts and procedural history of the case and the three tests that were developed by the United States Supreme Court to analyze Establishment Clause challenges. Part II examines the Ninth Circuit’s application of the three Establishment Clause tests to the facts of this case. Finally, Part III explains why the Coercion Test is the determinative test in the context of government action in public schools and why California Education Code Section 52720 and the School District’s policy fail this test

Cardiovascular risk assessment

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the Westernised world. Lifestyle changes and drug therapy can reduce cardiovascular risk. Many interventions such as lipid-lowering therapy reduce relative risk to the same extent irrespective of baseline risk, but the absolute benefit is still highest in those with the highest absolute risk. Cardiovascular risk assessment is a tool to determine absolute cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic patients and to select those most likely to benefit from intervention. Conventional risk assessment (Framingham) requires age, gender, blood pressure, smoking status, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) to determine risk. This is usually expressed as the 10-year risk of coronary heart disease. The accuracy and predictive ability of conventional risk assessment have limitations. Many biomarkers, genetic tests and vascular imaging procedures correlate statistically with vascular risk. Adding these tests to conventional risk assessment (expanded risk assessment) may therefore improve our ability to predict risk. It has, however, been difficult to conclusively demonstrate that expanded risk assessment outperforms conventional risk assessment. Many tests and procedures require further validation before they become part of routine clinical practice. Additional testing may be useful in patients with intermediate risk or where risk is difficult to determine for other reasons

Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School Disctrict: Religious Coercion in Public Schools Unconstitutional Despite Voluntary Nature of Partially Patriotic Activity

This Note examines Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District and explains why California Education Code Section 52720 and the School District’s policy of reciting the Pledge violate the Establishment Clause. Part I discusses the background facts and procedural history of the case and the three tests that were developed by the United States Supreme Court to analyze Establishment Clause challenges. Part II examines the Ninth Circuit’s application of the three Establishment Clause tests to the facts of this case. Finally, Part III explains why the Coercion Test is the determinative test in the context of government action in public schools and why California Education Code Section 52720 and the School District’s policy fail this test

Statins: Adherence and side-effects

Many patients either do not adhere to, or fail to persist with, long-term lipid-lowering therapy. This unfavourable medication utilisation behaviour compromises potential treatment benefit. In retrospective studies, patients aged 50-65 had the highest adherence rates, while both younger and older patients had lower rates. Patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease adhere better than those in primary prevention. Financial barriers may impair adherence. At the individual patient level, health beliefs, perceptions of own cardiovascular risk and need for medication, concerns about side-effects and inconvenience of treatment may influence adherence. In clinical trials, regular reminders to patients have been shown to improve adherence, but each patient will require an individually tailored treatment strategy. Myopathy is the most common clinically relevant adverse effect of statins. The clinical severity of statin myopathy is highly variable, ranging from mild muscle ache to rare instances of rhabdomyolysis. Risk factors for statin myopathy include age, statin dose, hypothyroidism, medications that inhibit statin metabolism, combined statin and fibrate therapy, and renal impairment. Alternative causes of myopathy should be excluded before muscular symptoms are ascribed to statins. The management of statin myopathy is guided by the severity of symptoms and the creatine kinase level. Potential management strategies include statin dechallenge and rechallenge, statin dose reduction, statin switching, non-daily dosing and use of alternative lipid-lowering agents, such as ezetimibe. Statins rarely cause severe liver disease. Mild liver enzyme elevations are seen relatively frequently in patients starting statins, but are usually not clinically important. Patients with persistently elevated liver enzymes should be investigated to determine the cause of liver disease. Patients with stable, well-compensated liver disease can be prescribed statins, provided they are closely monitored

Familial hypercholesterolaemia

amilial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a monogenic disorder of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) metabolism. It is characterised by markedly elevated LDL cholesterol, autosomal dominant inheritance, premature cardiovascular disease and tendon xanthomata. FH is a genetically heterogeneous disorder, but the most common underlying molecular cause is mutation of the LDL receptor gene. The worldwide prevalence of FH is 1:500. South Africa has three founder populations in which the prevalence of FH may be as high as 1:70. FH is diagnosed clinically, but the diagnosis can be confirmed by DNA analysis. DNA testing cannot always identify the causative mutation because there are several genes to examine and more than 1 500 different mutations have been identified in the LDL receptor alone. Statins are the treatment of choice for patients with FH. Ezetimibe or cholestyramine can be added if additional LDL lowering is required, or if patients are unable to tolerate high statin doses

Optically activated ZnO/Sio2/Si cantilever beams

The photomechanical effect induced by periodically varying sub-bandgap illumination in thin ZnO films deposited on oxidized Si has been demonstrated for the first time. The efficiency of this effect is at least one order of magnitude higher as compared to the photothermal activation of Si. Thus it can be considered as a powerful optical drive for resonant sensors. A phenomenological model of the mechanisms involved in the process is proposed. The optomechanical effect can also be used as a complementary method in determination of the surface state parameters of ZnO films